Sam Adams will be Portland's next mayor, the city's first openly gay chief executive.

Adams was easily outpacing his main rival Sho Dozono -- 58 percent to 34 percent -- tonight. The 11 other candidates in the race were far behind.

"As mayor, I will work hard," Adams declared less than an hour after the first count came in. He promised to "move the city forward," making Portland a cleaner, greener and better educated city with citizens' help.

Mayor Tom Potter stopped by Adams' party briefly, shook his hand and offered congratulations. Potter, who had endorsed Dozono, pledged to help Adams make the transition over the next seven months and prepare him for the challenges he'll face in the city's top job.

Dozono had conceded the race moments earlier: "I've always taken up challenges with a very short time frame. Obviously in this particular case, I didn't have enough time to get my message out."

"This has been a wonderful opportunity to present myself as a future mayor," he said. "Life is good no matter what happens. I've given 100 speeches, and I've got nothing to lose. Life is good."

Adams, 44, a first-term city commissioner who spent 11 years as former Mayor Vera Katz's chief of staff and right-hand man, said he was shocked by the early results and waited a bit before accepting his new mantle.

The top two candidates presented a stark contrast for voters: Adams is a self-professed policy wonk who wades deep into the details of government operations, and Dozono is a businessman who promised to provide an outsider's overarching vision and talked more in big sweep than specifics.

Adams has promised to make education his top priority, specifically targeting the dropout rate. He is also a champion of extending the streetcar, turning West Burnside and Couch Streets into a couplet and revamping the city's economic development efforts to bring more sustainable industries to town.

Dozono, 64, owns Azumano Travel and has been one of the city's leading residents over the past two decades through his work on behalf of the public schools and various nonprofits.

Adams and Dozono debated more than three dozen times over the past three months.